Cable connection

According to the Eeyou Communications Network (ECN), everything is going according to plan with the company’s major telecommunications project that will see the James Bay region hooked up to a fibre-optic internet, video and IP telephone network.

As work progresses in other Cree communities, however, the Chisasibi band council has declined ECN’s service proposal and will continue with local provider Kinwapt Cable Inc.

Chisasibi Chief Davey Bobbish told the Nation that, in the spring of 2017, Kinwapt Cable Inc. asked the band council for an opportunity to provide similar services to those offered by ECN. “Council agreed and gave five months to Kinwapt Cable to table its plan by the September council meeting,” Bobbish said.

Their presentation listed the history and progress of the company after being in business and serving the community for 24 years. It mentioned the meaningful employment it provides to local people, and to upgrade infrastructure to meet the needs of the community.

ECN president Alfred Loon told the Nation that while it’s unfortunate that Chisasibi residents will not have access to fibre-optic internet, ECN will continue to work with Chisasibi and provide some of the infrastructure necessary to maintain the telecommunications network in that community. That being said, ECN employees work with a completely different system than Kinwapt and will not be able to help with repairs or maintenance to Kinwapt’s coaxial cable network.

ECN Director General Cedric Melançon said that cable is not necessarily slower than fibre-optic technology but that Kinwapt must maintain quality service.

“There are pretty good speeds achievable with cable but it’s up to them to continue evolving their network so they can support the same kind of standards,” he said. “It is possible to provide good service, but the thing is we know that fibre is going to able to provide a good service for another 20-30 years, whereas with cable this is uncertain.”

As for ECN, Melançon said the company will meet its contractual obligation with the federal government to have all of the Cree communities as well as some neighbouring municipalities connected to a fibre-optic network by March 31, 2018. The main transport hubs that will connect individual homes in each community to the fibre-optic network have already been constructed.

“We recently established a fibre-optic ring around the region that has helped stabilize the system,” Melançon said. “Everything is on track to provide the service as planned in the spring.”